Rocco, Interesting! How do the students in your office respond to you taking a call while you are meeting with them?
Dr. Jean Norris
I work at a small family owned beauty school. We have a front desk that takes all the phone calls whether their for prospective students or clients for the salon portion. They direct all admissions calls to my office whether i have someone in my office or not. I usually do not answer the phone if i have an apointment. My voicemail states that I may be with an apointment or out of the office and I will call them back as soon as possible. Do you think it would be better to excuse myself and answer? What would be the best way to answer and let them know they are important but letting them know at the same time i have an appointment i am with, get their info and call them back.
Laura , Great question! Let me ask you this in return: What kind of service are you providing the student in your office when you answer the phone during their time with you?
Dr. Jean Norris
I really only have students in my office for 2 reasons. the first is when they come in for a tour of the school (this includes taking them on a tour of the school, fill out the pre application, and i show them the kits that come with the program they want) the other reason they are in my office is for enrollment. This is more of a one on one with the student. I go over a lot of information with this type of appointment.
I tell the student when they first come in to my office that I might be interrupted so when I get an inbound call it makes it easier to get the call. At that moment I do inform the caller that I have someone with me in the office, take down their information and let them know that I will return their call.
Juan, That sounds like a nice practice. Do you see any way to improve that process?
Elizabeth Wheeler
I handle inbound calls in a pleasant and professional manner.
i would have one of my reps not currently on the phone assist the student that just walked in.
Chad, That is a great idea, so that each student is taken care of. What about this process has room for opportunity?
Elizabeth Wheeler
When I am meeting with a prospective student and an inbound call comes in the receptionist answers the call and takes the following information:
- Name
- contact number
- email address
- program of interest
- How they heard about us
- best time to contact
The receptionist will inform the person on the phone that I will return their call today. If the person continues to request information immediately the receptionist will transfer the call to me. I am currently the only admissions rep at my campus so I will take the call.
I excuse myself with the student in front of me and gather the pertinent contact information from the student on the phone. The pertinent information that I collect or have them verify is their name, the best contact number they can be reached at, their email address and their telephone number. I then inform them I will call them once I have finished working with the student in my office.
Sylvia, Interesting! How do you think the student that is in your office feels?
Elizabeth Wheeler
Setting the stage is extremely important when meeting with a new student. I tell students that I may have to take a call while we are talking as many others are looking at starting classes like them. I also explain that I will keep any interruption to a minimal time-frame.
David, It's great that you make them aware. I'm curious, how do you think your students feel about you taking calls while you are speaking with them? Is there another process in place so that you don't have to answer the phone?
Dr. Jean Norris
I handle it with thanking for calling and giving the name of our school and my name to follow that, then I ask "how may I help you?"
That's a great idea. Our office is usually very busy, so then if the phone does ring, the potential student visitor won't be surprised by the interruption.
Thanks for sharing, Eric! Thanking the caller is the perfect way to begin your greeting. A friendly and upbeat tone also make the caller feel welcome.
Dr. Jean Norris
Sarah,
It sounds like you're concerned about interruptions, which is great! How do you think prospective students feel when their conversation with you IS interrupted?
Dr. Jean Norris
Provided that one of my staff members has not answered it already, I will excuse my self for a brief moment to look at the call display. If it is a call that can wait, then I let it go to voicemail. I like to make students feel as important as they are. If it is a call that I need to take, then I explain to the student that I just need to quickly answer this call and apologize. I never continue the call though. I answer, and say that I would love to speak with them, however, I'm just in a meeting at the moment, and I will call them back as soon as I have a moment. I want both the caller and the student feel important and not feel as though they are being neglected.
I agree fully but have ran into one exception to this situation in the past. On rare occasions I am here in the Admissions office on the weekends during a time that a receptionist is not on staff. During this time I had several appointments with prospective students and ran into a small number of calls. Typically my phone doesnt ring for incoming calls just internal calls since I'm primarily an inside rep, but I do see the phone light up when a call comes in so that I'm aware and can answer in a timely fashion. I set the understanding early in the interraction that I was the only person in the building that day just in case and they understood completely. The few calls I got were made very brief and, as stated by many others so far, contact information was gathered and no call took up a lot of time from the persons waiting.
